According to upstairs the puck didn't fully cross the line - and, wasn't it kicked in anyway?
Well, that's a nice politically correct response that doesn't matter (not from you, from 'upstairs'). Not sure what channel you saw the broadcast on, but CBC showed pretty clearly it was in.
There was no protest and bluntly you can't protest something like that, IMO.
As far as
kicking it in, no, it was not. Yes, it went off a skate, but it would have been considered a deflection. There was no intent to kick it, no forward motion of the foot in a kicking motion. The player was coming in and stopping hard when the puck went off the skate, so it would not be termed a kick.
Again, it doesn't matter. A 7 game series is fantastic. And hey, Tampa held on and certainly took it to the net hard in the second OT. Good goal.
